


abendrot

by ivelostmyspectacles



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Friendship, Gen, Kingdom Hearts III, Sunsets, Trailer Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-12
Updated: 2018-06-12
Packaged: 2019-05-21 08:33:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 725
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14912024
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ivelostmyspectacles/pseuds/ivelostmyspectacles
Summary: He startled out of his thoughts, blinking the memory of blue eyes out of his vision. “Hey.” Familiar now, familiar for a long time, almost, in ways he couldn’t place– ohhh, so that was what they all had been working on all day. Outfits and haircuts. Their battle armor, as it stood. “Likin’ the look,” he said, eyes taking in the pink and the plaid and the smile on Kairi’s face.[Trailer inspired.]





	abendrot

It had been a long time coming.

He should have _seen_ it coming, a long time ago, but he’d been younger and stupider and more blind to the greater scheme that he’d suddenly found himself a part of. And now here he was, the press of a Keyblade ready to jump forth from beneath his fingertips and he was an integral part of a war that he hadn’t been able to even fathom back when things were more simple, easy.

He was fighting for so much more than himself, now. That was… a scary thought, really.

Acclimatizing to life as a Nobody had been difficult. Coming back to being human, wrapping his head around all the stuff he’d done and all the stuff he still had to do, was even worse. But he wouldn’t trade it for the world, not for the world; he had things to do. He had promises to keep.

The sunlight was warm against his skin and Lea thought he had spent his days in the Organization never really appreciating how beautiful a thing the sunset really was. It was different when you were human. He didn’t think he’d appreciated it when he’d been young, either, too caught up with ice cream and games and breaking the rules.

Sunsets were beautiful. Sunsets were lonely.

The rays of dying sunlight were on his face and Lea closed his eyes, tilting his head up into the touch of warmth he could find there. He could remember the flutter of warmth in his chest he had felt upon every moment shared with Roxas: every joke, every ice cream, every mission, every second he had called him friend without understanding the true meaning behind the word. He knew now. He remembered now. Friends.

What a beautiful thing that was, too.

Eyes closed like this, he could pretend he was there, in Twilight Town. That he had kept his promise, that he had rescued Roxas from the darkness. A thought he’d had many times before now, one he joked kept him going even if it wasn’t so much of a joke as he made it out to be. But he didn’t need to pretend. Soon, they would save all that had fallen to the darkness. The power to do so was ever thrumming beneath his fingertips these days, proof that he could and would return light to the world, and keep his promises in doing so.

… and even still, there was always something, Lea thought, and opened his eyes to the horizon. Something at the edge of his memory that he couldn’t quite reach, something he thought he was forgetting. That horrible feeling of knowing you knew something but being unable to remember it. There was something else he was meant to do. There was someone else he–

“Hey Axel.”

He startled out of his thoughts, blinking the memory of blue eyes out of his vision. “Hey.” Familiar now, familiar for a long time, almost, in ways he couldn’t place– ohhh, so that was what they all had been working on all day. Outfits and haircuts. Their battle armor, as it stood. “Likin’ the look,” he said, eyes taking in the pink and the plaid and the smile on Kairi’s face.

Guilt seized at his throat, dragging its claws into his chest before he could swat it away. They had had their reconciliation. It wouldn’t change the fact of what he’d done, but Kairi was kind, and gentle, and endlessly patient. She deserved to be surrounded by only the best of people, and she had chosen to be Lea’s friend instead. Funny. Friends. Beautiful.

A heart had made him a sentimental thing.

“You cut your hair, too,” he said, and Kairi nodded as she sat down next to him to take in the last remains of the sunset.

Maybe he didn’t need the sunlight to feel the warmth. Maybe he wasn’t as alone as he thought he was. He knew the answer. He knew it in his _heart._

Quirking a smile, Lea tilted his head towards his friend. “Hey. Betcha don’t know why the sun sets red.”

Kairi looked at him, surprise in her eyes at the sudden non-sequitur. But then she took in his smile, and laughed, and Lea felt so very grateful; Kairi braced her hands on her knees, and allowed him to explain.

**Author's Note:**

> MAN IF KAIRI AND LEA'S FRIENDSHIP HASN'T BEEN AN IMPORTANT THING TO ME I WAS SO HYPED TO SEE THEM TOGETHER I CRIED FOR LIKE TWENTY MINUTES AFTER HEARING LEA SAY THREE LINES _anyway_ this was also inspired by Nijuukoo's post on twitter of the photo of them with this quote and _I had to write it_
> 
> I was debating on my 500th story because I wanted it to have meaning and then I realized, there's nothing more meaningful than going back to a game that got you through the roughest parts of your life. god bless kingdom hearts


End file.
